Too Late
by DisneyisaLifestyle
Summary: At night, Edd has been having some problems. He's been trying to hide them from Tom and Matt, hoping that they won't notice that something was wrong. But eventually, they did notice. Turns out, a certain event made a bigger impact on Edd then they thought. (Rated K plus for blood. Sorry, I'm terrible at descriptions.)
1. Revenge

**Hey guys, it's DisneyisaLifestyle once again. I decided to delete my other story because when I looked back at it, the idea has been done one too many times. This story is the original idea I was going to go with. This will be told from Edd's perspective. Anyway, on to the story!**

"That will be £27.69, sir"

My head snapped up. "W-what?"

The cashier sighed. "Sir, your total is £27.69," she told me in a bored tone.

"O-oh, of course! Sorry, miss," I mumbled my face turning slightly red. I pulled out his wallet, my hands fumbling to pull out the cash. The next customer gave me an annoyed glare, her child staring at me.

Truth be told, I didn't understand why I was so nervous. I just came in to grab a few things and get back home, no biggie. But the whole time, I had this feeling of dread, the kind that you get when something bad might happen. I tried to push his worry out of his mind, but it haunted me the whole time.

Honestly, it was probably just me being paranoid. Our neighborhood wasn't known to have that many crimes happen there. Besides, Matt and Tom were still at home, so any intruder would have to deal with those two first.

When I got to their neighborhood, things were quiet...too quiet. Normally, the street was alive with activity at around dusk. But now, you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. The dread returned once again; making me feel like I swallowed a golfball or something.

When I got to the driveway, I set the bags down in order to grab the house keys. Right when I pulled them out, a horrid sound tore through the atmosphere: gunshots. They were proceeded by Matt screaming, which was cut off by more gunshots. In those seconds, my fears were confirmed.

Quickly, I sprinted toward the door, panic rising in my chest. I ripped the door open; almost making it come off the hinges. There, I was greeted to a horrifying sight. Tom and Matt were laying dead on the floor, bruises and blood mottling their skin. Near them stood Tord, his eyes locked onto their corpses, gun in hand. Before I could stop myself, I screamed bloody murder, which caught Tord's attention. He smiled maliciously at me.

"Nice to see that you could make it, Edd."

I breathing became faster, whatever I had in my stomach threatening to come out on the carpet. I didn't want to go any further in there, but my legs did otherwise. I inched towards him.

"Tord,why would you do this? What did we do to for you to do-this?"

Tord let out a dark chuckle. "You want to know why?" he muttered in a harsh tone. "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?" he shouted. He walked up to me and grabbed his throat. It was like having a large wrench squeezed around it. "As I recall, Tom shot me down with a giant harpoon gun, and neither you nor Matt lifted a finger to stop him." He paused. "That harpoon nearly killed me, Edd," he growled.

I was scratching furiously at Tord's hands, desperate to get some air. Tord laughed, seeming amused at my attempt to fight. Quickly, I was thrown on the ground coughing and gasping.

Tord picked up his gun once again. "It only seems fitting that I return the favor. But unlike you three..." He aimed it at me. "I'm not going to miss."

I shut my eyes, bracing myself for the bullet, but one never came. Instead, I heard Tord let out a laugh that kept going on and on. It seemed to go on for hours before he finally cocked the gun. "Any last words, old friend?"

I looked over to my friends. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you guys," I whispered, tears pouring down my face.

 _BANG!_

 ** _._._._._**

"NO!"

Suddenly, my body shot up. What happened? Was I dead? My fingers traced over my forehead, but there was no bullet hole there. Slowly opening my eyes, I didn't see heaven or...the other place, but my bedroom. Everything was the same. Groaning, I flopped down on my bed.

Great, I had yet another nightmare! That's the third one this week, and it was starting to get old. Ever since our house was...blown up, these things have been happening a ton. It's been about a month since the accident, and they just keep coming over and over.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't tell Matt or Tom. I mean, they're my friends, how could I not tell them? But they had their own problems to deal with, and I shouldn't add mine on to the pile.

Sitting up again, I saw Ringo sitting on the top of the dresser, his eyes glowing in the dark. He mewed at me, jumping off of the dresser. I held my arms out. "Come here, Ringo," I whispered. He curled up in my lap purring happily.

Sighing, I turned on the lamp and grabbed my sketchbook. Thanks to my nightmare, I wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon. Oh well, might as well do something other than stare at my alarm clock. I just hope that these end soon, because I'm getting sick of these.

 **And that's the end of the first chapter! I wrote this while having writer's block on both of my original works that I'm writing. I hope you guys enjoyed this. See you guys soon for the next chapter.**

 **DisneyisaLifestyle out!**


	2. Suspicions

It's been a while since my last nightmare, but I didn't sleep. If I slept, another nightmare might happen, and I don't want another one. So in order to prevent them, I just didn't sleep.

The lack of sleep on top of the paranoia made hiding my situation much harder. Mostly, it was small things that would slip pass a blind eye. Sometimes, I would yawn or my eyes would close for a couple of seconds. But then, things got worse. There were dark circles underneath my eyes. I would close my eyes and actually fall asleep, which would last for a few minutes. Normally, I was able to do this when nobody was around. But, it didn't stay hidden for long.

A couple of days ago, the three of us were at the store to pick up some things. Matt and Tom split up to get whatever it is they needed, so I decided to wait for them one of those little coffee shops attached to it. I ordered a coffee and sat by the window. The shop was so peaceful and quiet. Yawning, I laid my head down on my arms. "I suppose that a few quick seconds of sleep couldn't hurt me."

After what felt like a few seconds, I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder. Groaning, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Tom was staring at me, Matt standing behind him. "Uh, Edd? You alright?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get enough sleep last night is all." Both Matt and Tom's eyebrow raised. Great, they were catching on. Standing up, I mustered a smile, though it probably appeared fake. "Guys, relax! You don't need to get yourselves worked up about this." I rubbed my eyes again. "What are you guys doing over here?"

A hint of a smile appeared on Matt's face. "Relax, mate! We couldn't find you, so we came here. You were sound asleep, and we couldn't wake you up for a while." He sat down next to me and held a cup out to me. "By the way, your coffee got knocked off the table, so the guy at the counter made you a new one."

"Thanks Matt." I sipped on the drink, only for it to burn my tongue. Wincing, I put the cup down. "Wow, that was quite the wake up call!"

Tom smirked. "A little too hot, Edd?" His grin got bigger when I nodded. After laughing for a few seconds, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should get home. You could use a nap, Edd."

"That would be nice."

 **._._._._.**

When we got to our apartment, I went right into my room. I didn't want to face another nightmare, but not sleeping may worry them. Sighing, I pulled the covers over my head. The past few days have been rough, but a bit of shut eye might make it better.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the bedroom door. The door opened a crack. "Hey, did I wake you up?" It was Tom. Quietly, he slipped into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

A hint of a smile appeared on my face. "No, no, you didn't. I wasn't even close to dosing off yet." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, what are you doing in here? And, how did you get in?"

He held up a set of keys. "We gave each other a key to our apartments, remember?" There was an awkward silence between us. Tom sighed. "Edd, Matt and I have been worried about you."

My blood turned cold. They found out. What do I do? I let out a nervous chuckle, hoping that it would cover up my fear. Judging by Tom's skeptical look, I don't think that it worked. "What's there to worry about?"

He cleared his throat. "Well Edd, Matt noticed that there are dark circles appearing under your eyes." He was fidgeting with his hands. "Also, yesterday morning, I walked in your place to drop off something. When I got into your living room, you had nodded off on the couch."

I let out a small chuckle. "That must've been pretty amusing to see."

"Yeah, it was kind of funny. But, you had a cup of coffee in your hand. It almost spilled on you." I winced. "So, I woke you up and took the coffee from you. You were pretty dazed when I left. I don't even think you remembered me being in there."

"Actually, I don't. But at least I didn't end up with a bad burn. Imagine someone asking how that happened." We both laughed, but it didn't sound genuine. It's like there was some tension behind it. The laughter, though forced, left almost as soon as it began.

"I've gotta go back to my place." He got up off the bed.

"See you later, Tom."

Just as he reached the door, he turned back to me. "Hey Edd, if something is bothering you, you can always talk to us. You know that, right?"

I nodded. "Of course."

He glanced at me once again before leaving, the door quietly closing behind him. Laying down, I let out a small huff. They're starting to get suspicious, so what do I do now? I want to keep this issue to myself, but at the same time, I want to tell them. Why does this have to be so hard!? Maybe a bit of shut-eye will help clear my mind. Rolling over, I shut my eyes.

I had no dreams then.

 **A/N I'm so sorry for not updating this in nearly a month! I've been busy with other projects, so I forgot to write this part. Sorry that this is so short, but I'll try to make a longer chapter next time. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **DisneyisaLifestyle, out!**


	3. We Know

I tried my best to get more sleep now, but I couldn't even if I tried. Every night, I spent more time tossing and turning than getting shut eye. On the nights that I don't get sleep, I just get up and watch something until morning came around. It was awful not being able to sleep. I did sleep some nights, but that didn't go well (What was I expecting?).

Recently, the only time I'd been out of my apartment was to go to either Matt or Tom's place. I'm pretty sure that if I went out, I'd do something stupid. So, I just stayed inside and tried my best to kill time. As each day passed, I started to grow more and more bored.

Over time, I knew that my cover up stories were becoming less believable. I would see Matt cast side glances towards me at times. Heck, sometimes Matt would outright ask me about how much I was sleeping. I would tell him that I was fine, and he would leave the matter alone for a while. But, the look in his eyes told me that he wasn't buying it one bit.

Tom would also cast side glances, but he wouldn't do it as much as Matt. He wouldn't ask me about my sleep and all that, which I was thankful for. Mostly, he just kept to his own business and didn't bother me much. But, it's almost as if he is waiting for something to happen.

I didn't want it to be true, but they would find out one day or another. Judging by how quickly I was deteriorating, it wouldn't take that long. Now, it was only a matter of when.

 **._._._.**

Today was hell. I had to go to the grocery store with a headache, which felt like someone was slamming a hammer onto my head repeatedly. It was a relief to get out of there. Later that night, a couple began fighting in the apartment building. They were shouting and hitting each other for hours in the hallways before security stepped in.

Now, I was just sitting on the couch and watching some kind of zombie flick that I couldn't remember the name of. It was another sleepless night, so I just watched whatever was on. Ringo was sound asleep next to me on the couch, his purrs filling in the partial silence of the apartment. I hated cleaning up his fur, but I was feeling kind of lonely tonight, so I didn't really care. Besides, Tom and Matt were probably asleep at this point, so I couldn't exactly hang out with them at this hour.

The lack of noise was rather relaxing, which made my eyelids feel rather heavy. Yawning, I began to fall asleep. This would be the first time sleeping in a day or two. Then, everything happened at once.

The sound of a door breaking down echoed through the hallway. My eyes flew open at the sound of the wood shattering into a thousand pieces. But the screams that followed is what what made the feeling of fear kicking. They were coming closer and closer by the second, which means that whoever was doing this was going to get to me soon. Jumping onto my feet, I left the apartment and sprinted down the hallway.

My legs were moving, but I had no idea where I was even going. All I knew is that I had to get away from who or what was causing all the screaming. The more and more I ran, the longer the hallway appeared to be.

Just when I turned another corner, my body froze in place. Matt's screams echoed throughout the hallway, the sound lasting a bit longer than the others. They were immediately followed by Tom's, which lasted longer as well. Then, they stopped, silence replacing the horrid noise beforehand.

Had nothing else happened, I would've stayed rooted to the spot on the floor. But, the silence was broken by someone shouting: "Where did you run off to, Edd?" The sound of the familiar Norwegian voice gripped my body with panic, causing my legs to begin running once again.

As I continued to make my way down the hallway, Tord's footsteps followed behind me. I seemed to be pretty ahead of him, but he seemed to be catching up moment by moment. I began colliding with walls, so that gave him more time to catch up to me. The whole time, he kept trying to grab my hoodie or my hair in order to stop me. Somehow, I was able to pick up my pace whenever that happened.

When the stairs were in sight, relief flooded through my body. I was going to get out of here! I was going to live! Just as my fingertips grazed the doorknobs, the worst possible thing happened. Tord's body slammed into mine, pulling both of us down onto the floor. Panic gripping me, I closed my eyes and punched him.

 **._._._.**

"Edd, snap out of it!"

My eyes flew open, my heart pounding in my chest. Panic gripped me when I thought I died for a second, but I quickly shook that thought off. I was no longer in the never ending apartment building hallways. I was in my room, the bedsheets kicked off of the bed. But, there was something-or someone there that wasn't there before.

"Matt, Tom, w-what are you guys doing here?"

 **Hey everyone, I'm so sorry for not updating in two months. I have been busy with original works, so I haven't really been working on the chapter. Also, sorry if anyone is out of character, I was extremely tired while writing this. But, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Reviews**

 **Zepeduhh: I'm glad to see that you find this interesting!**

 **icegirl75love: You asked for more, so here's a new chapter. I hope you like this one as well!**


	4. Conquering

The apartment was too quiet, which was something that I was never used to. The only sounds that were made was Ringo purring, and even that wasn't too loud. The atmosphere in the room was so cold and tense, it felt like a layer of ice was over everything. It was rather unnerving, and I just wanted things to go back to normal.

Matt was sitting next to me on the couch. He didn't even try to hide his worried and slightly terrified look on his face. If I'm honest, I don't blame him. Tom was sitting next to Matt, his face in his hands. He seemed frustrated and upset.

I attempted to break the silence. "Tom, Matt, I'm-"

"How long?"

The room, by some miracle, seemed to get even more quiet then it was. I immediately shut up. "Tom, what do you mean?"

He glanced up at me, anger etched onto his expression. "How long has this been going on? When have you been meaning to tell us?" He paused, his voice cracking as if he were going to cry. "What were you thinking?" He looked down at his hands again.

I felt regret building up in me. I tried to say something, but my brain seemed like it couldn't connect to my mouth. "I-I…" Why was it so difficult to talk now? "I don't know."

He stood up and stared at me. "You know what? Just…forget it." He left the apartment, almost slamming the door behind him. I didn't know how, but the room got even colder after that. My feeling of regret only got worse, and I felt like I was going to cry.

Matt stared at the door, appearing just about as shocked as I was. We both sat in silence once more, letting the awkward feeling settle. I tried to get rid of the tension, but that only made it worse. "Matt, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to bother you and Tom, and-" Why was my voice cracking so much?

Matt tilted my chin up so that we were keeping eye contact. I expected to see him upset, but he appeared to be the opposite. In fact, there was a small, but kind smile on his face. "Edd, relax. Yes, you did a foolish thing. But, that doesn't mean that we'll hang it over your head forever." He paused. "So, now that everything is out in the open, why don't you explain what's going on?"

My throat felt like it was getting even tighter, making even more difficult to breathe. "N-no Matt, I shouldn't. This is all my problem, so you shouldn't have to…" My vision began to blur, so I stopped talking, knowing what was going to happen next.

Matt sighed. "Edd, listen. I may not be the smartest person, but I know when someone needs to let things off there chest. Now spill it, because I'm not leaving until you say something." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "You shouldn't think that your problems are some kind of burden."

And so, I cried. I let everything go, my words spilling out with no filter. I cried even after I felt like I couldn't breath. At some point, Matt had wrapped me up in an embrace, but I didn't try to push him away. All I could do was sit there, talk, and cry. At some point, Matt kind of joined in with me on the crying.

When there were no more tears to let out, we sat there and let the silence sink in. For a long time, there were no words spoken. Finally, Matt stood up. He turned to me, wiped a tear away, and walked up to the door. "I-I'll go get Tom. He should probably hear all of this." I nodded as he slopped out of the door. Okay Edd, get yourself under control, I thought to myself.

A few moments later, Tom came back in the apartment, Matt following behind him. Tom sat down on the couch, the anger from before almost gone. He turned to me and sighed. "Look, about what happened earlier…I'm sorry."

I sighed. "Don't apologize. You have every right to be angry." In all honesty, he did.

He nodded and leaned forward on the couch. "So? Spill it, I'm ready this time."

I told him everything that I had told Matt. Thankfully, I was much more calm this time. The whole time, Tom had an analytical, serious look in his eyes, like he was processing every last word that I said. Finally, when I finished, he sighed. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. For a few seconds, he sat there. Finally, he spoke up.

"That was just…wow." He turned to me. "So, Tord is like some kind of dream phantom, huh?" He ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't answer that question, it was rhetorical." He paused. "And this has been going on for months?"

I sighed and shifted on the couch. "Yeah, it's…like that. It was horrifying seeing you guys dying over and over. I-it felt so real sometimes."

Matt sat down next to me, a small smile plaguing his lips. Tom placed his hand on my shoulder and gave a light shove. I accidentally bumped against Matt, but he didn't seem to notice or care. Suddenly, a serious expression appeared on Tom's face.

"Look, I still don't know wether I should be sorry for you or mad at you. You've been through hell with your whole sleep problem, and I get that. Still, you should've said something. Yes, we've had our own problems after everything that happened with…you know. But still, it was really stupid to keep all of this to yourself."

I nodded, the tears reappearing. "I know, but I think that it's a little late for that, don't you think?" I forced out a chuckle, trying to ease the mood in the room. But, like I expected, the attempt was met with silence. Okay, that was bad timing on my part. "Look, now that everything is out of the way, there is one problem. I've told you guys everything, but that won't make the nightmares go away."

Matt smiled. "I think we can find a way."

 **._._._.**

It was another beautiful sunset tonight, the kind that made feel fuzzy and relaxed. I could sit there for hours and watch the day turn to night. It was rather relaxing, and it set me in the proper mood for the evening. This evening, that's what I found myself doing. I was sitting on the apartment building's roof, trying not to gaze directly into the sun.

Life has been crazy for the past couple of weeks. Tom, Matt, and I have been looking for ways to take care of my nightmares (night terrors in technical terms). There were several suggestions of how to take care of these, though not too many of them helped since they required someone to be with me. However, one stood out to me was a suggestion to try lucid dreaming. I knew that I'd have to try it eventually, but I could never quite get a handle on it. Oh well, I'm sure that it will come to me eventually.

I glanced up at the sky, surprised to see the stars appear so quickly. Checking my phone, I saw that it was now about 8:30 PM. "Wow, time really does fly fast," I muttered to myself in amusement. I had to get home, so I stood up, ready to head inside.

Suddenly, I heard something moving behind me. Every muscle that I had went stiff in a second. My body froze, refusing my commands to move. What was that thing that passed? Robbers? Muggers? My mind kept spinning with all of the possibilities, yet the rest of me refused to work with it. Just as I was able to get my feet to cooperate, the figure materialized right in front of me.

In that moment, I felt the world slow down. I tried to run, but my feet were anchored once more. The only thing I was able to was let out a couple of quiet whimpers. The figure stood in the shadows, their cruel smile standing out from the darkness. I felt my panic rise even more now.

Just as I could get myself to run, the figure lunged at me. Before I could react, they started to drag me towards the edge of the roof. I tried to fight back, but that didn't help anything. They tightened their grip on me, causing me to let out a yelp of pain. "Quit squirming if you know what's best for you," the figure hissed at me. Judging by the voice, I'd say that the person was definitely male.

They-he shoved me to the roof's edge, my body bending over the ledge. My panic reached its peak when I saw the cars so far down below me. The man let out an amused laugh. "Any last words?" they asked.

Suddenly, I was able to work my legs again. While they were distracted, I shoved the man away as hard as I could. I bolted, not even attempting to look back. However, I was satisfied to hear him let out a shocked grunt. I ran to the stair doors, my heart pounding in my chest. Yes, just a few steps closer, and I'd be home free!

Just as my fingers brushed the doorknobs, the man grabbed my ankles and pulled me down onto the ground. The wind was knocked right out of me, the fight in me leaving in one second. My eyes squeezed shut, hoping that he'd go away. He took this as an opportunity to pin me to the ground.

The man was yelling at me, but I wasn't able to pick out much of what he was saying. He was gripping my arms hard enough to breath. I opened my eyes a crack, even though that wouldn't help me any now. However, when I saw who my attacker was, everything clicked into place. Everything made sense now.

"You're…not…real," I managed to get out.

Every bit of amusement left the man-Tord's face. "What are you talking about?" He seemed panicked, like I had caught him doing something wrong (I technically did). "Edd, look at me, of course I'm real!"

I looked him right in the eyes, not letting anything else distract me. "You're not Tord. Tord is long gone." I shoved him off of me and stood up. For the first time in a while, my legs didn't wobble. I glared at him, my fists clenched. "Tord is dead, so you can't be real." I started to walk toward Tord, which caused him to back up. "Do me a favor and screw off. Better yet, don't ever come back here."

Tord's face was filled to the brim with fear. When he tried to talk again, I noticed that he was starting to fade away. It was like watching dandelion fuzz fly away in the wind. Then, in a few seconds, he was gone. The only thing left behind was pure silence.

Immediately, my tough guy demeanor melted away. I had read about doing this kind of stuff, and it seemed fairly easy to do. But time after time, I kept slipping up, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong. But after so many times of trying, I finally faced Tord! "I did it," I whispered to myself. A huge grin spread across my face. "I did it! I finally did it!"

 **A/N: Wow, it's been an eternity since I updated this. I am so sorry that this took such a long time to update. Problems such as mental health and starting high school took up my writing time. However, I did find just a little bit of time in the late evening to work on this.**

 **If anyone seems out of character in this, I'm sorry. I wrote this when I was half asleep. This was supposed to be longer, but I decided that this was long enough. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it was rather crappy. The next update will be at around Christmas as a present for you guys. At least, I hope it will be.**

 **Reviews**

 **SP12: Surprise, here's an update!**

 **Human(Guest): Ask and you shall recieve.**

 **StormBerryMC: Thank you for your review. I'm glad to see that you and others are actually liking this story.**

 **Once again, thank you for reading this, and happy Halloween!**

 **DisneyisaLifestyle, out!**


	5. Author's Note

Hello to all my readers. I'm sure that some of you have wondered where I've been since October. Well, I've decided to leave this website. I'm sure that some of you may be a bit upset, but don't worry. If you still want to read my writings, I have two Wattpad accounts that you can follow. My original work is on my account StormyScribe and my fan fiction account is on my account Armageddon_Flame. I've enjoyed my time on this website, but I feel like Wattpad is better suited for me. Thank you for all the reads, comments, and follows on my stories here. Thank you for reading this, and farewell.

-DisneyisaLifestyle


	6. Special Announcement

I know that I have left my account behind, but I have some exciting news for you guys. If you don't know, I have decided to end Too Late. Now, I know that the story was a bit short, and I'm sorry for ending so soon. I feel like the end of chapter four was a good ending to the story.

But, that doesn't mean that the storyline itself is over. After giving it some consideration, I've allowed the user Laurtoons to make a sequel to Too Late. I have read their Eddsworld oneshot and I feel like she could serve this story some justice. I hope you enjoy their continuation of the story.

From here on out, if you'd like to ask questions or just chat, please message me through my Wattpad accounts Armageddon_Flame or StormyScribe. I'll try to respond to those messages as fast as I can. Thank you for reading this brief announcement. And to Laurtoons, I can't wait to see how your sequel turns out.

-DisneyisaLifestyle


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